Filtered resources appraise the quality of studies and often make recommendations for practice.

Systematic Reviews / Meta-Analyses

Authors of a systematic review ask a specific clinical question, perform a comprehensive literature search, eliminate the poorly done studies and attempt to make practice recommendations based on the well-done studies. A meta-analysis is a systematic review that combines all the results of all the studies into a single statistical analysis of results.

Consists of detailed, structured topic reviews of hundreds of articles. Teams of experts complete comprehensive literature reviews, evaluate the literature, and present summaries of the findings of the best studies. Published by the International Cochrane Collaboration.

Full-text database containing structured abstracts of systematic reviews from a variety of medical journals. DARE is produced by the National Health Services' Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (NHS CRD) at the University of York. DARE records cover topics such as diagnosis, prevention, rehabilitation, screening, and treatment.

A comprehensive database of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines and related documents produced by the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality, in partnership with the American Medical Association and the American Association of Health Plans. Updated weekly.

Note: Guideline evidence varies from expert opinion to high levels of evidence.

The editors of this journal screen the top 100+ clinical journals and identify studies that are methodologically sound and clinically relevant. An enhanced abstract, with conclusions clearly stated, and a commentary are provided for each selected article. Published by the American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine.

Quality articles from over 160 clinical journals are selected by research staff, and then rated for clinical relevance and interest by an international group of physicians. Includes a searchable database of the best evidence from the medical literature and an email alerting system. From BMJ Publishing Group and McMaster University's Health Information Research Unit.

Editors scan over 50 journals, select and identify articles that warrant immediate attention by nurses. These articles are summarized in "value added " abstracts and commented on by clinical experts.

Unfiltered Resources

Evidence is not always available via filtered resources. Searching the primary literature may be required. It is possible to use specific search strategies in MEDLINE and other databases to achieve the highest possible level of evidence.

To limit your PubMed search to the locate evidence-producing studies: Click on "Clinical Queries" (under PubMed Tools). This specialized search is intended for clinicians and has built-in search "filters." Four study categories--therapy, diagnosis, etiology, prognosis--are provided, and you may indicate whether you wish your search to be more sensitive (i.e., include most relevant articles but probably including some less relevant ones) or more specific (i.e., including mostly relevant articles but probably omit a few).

CENTRAL contains randomized controlled trial and controlled clinical trial from all Cochrane Review Groups' Specialised Registers. These registries include records from MEDLINE and EMBASE, as well as records from their handsearch results registries. Note: To use CENTRAL, select Trials from "Search Limits" feature on the Cochrane search screen.

Use research methodology filters to locate evidence based studies on appropriateness, process assessment, outcome assessment, costs and economics as well as qualitative studies related to health care services, quality and costs.

Background Information/Expert Opinion

Note: Evidence in these resources may vary from expert opinion to high levels of evidence.

Search from one convenient location and use document clustering to locate full text book content from HSLS’s electronic clinical books of STAT!Ref, MD Consult, AccessMedicine, AccessSurgery, Books@Ovid, and Wiley.

The Centre promotes evidence-based health care and provide support and resources to anyone who wants to make use of them. Includes the EBM Toolbox, an assortment of materials which are very useful for practitioners of EBM, and EBM Teaching Materials, including PowerPoint presentations.

This JAMA series from the Evidence-Based Medicine Working Group provides detailed guidance on how to critically appraise studies and other types of research articles and how to apply their clinical findings to specific patients.